


A Risk Worth Taking

by BookGirlFan



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Archie Andrews is a Good Friend, Gen, Homeless Jughead Jones, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-16
Updated: 2017-06-16
Packaged: 2018-11-14 15:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11211153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookGirlFan/pseuds/BookGirlFan
Summary: He pushed the door open. Behind him, Archie choked. "You've been living here? In the school?"





	A Risk Worth Taking

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't even seen the last three episodes, I've only seen the other episodes once, and I wrote this a while ago so I'm pretty sure it's AU by now anyway, but I liked it, and if someone else likes it too, I'll consider it worth posting.

He didn't say a word, just slowly started walking down the school corridor. There was no point hiding it now. Archie knew, or at least suspected, and once he had an idea in his head he wouldn't let it go easily, especially when it came to one of his friends. Betty was like that too. They made a nice pair like that. 

He finally reached the cupboard. Didn't bother looking at Archie, not wanting to see the disbelief, or pity, or guilt, or whatever he was going to feel about this. Once he would have known how Archie would react, but that was before everything. The summer. The road trip. Grundy. All of it. 

He pushed the door open. Behind him, Archie choked. "You've been living here? In the school?" 

"I'm managing." It should have sounded defensive, but he didn't have the energy to care anymore. Too much had happened, and a sleeping bag in the janitor's closet was never going to be the same as an actual bed. 

"Why didn't you tell me?" 

He shrugged. After July fourth, the road trip that never happened, he didn't want to talk to Archie. Even before that, the cracks had been growing. Something was missing between them that had always been there before, and somehow Archie leaving him on the side of the road with a backpack full of his life had seemed like a chapter ending. 

They'd made up, sure, but it was still too new and raw to be tested be something so heavy. He couldn't be sure that if push came to shove, it wouldn't break under the pressure, like straps of a parachute snapping one by one. Now he didn't have a choice. Sink or swim, fly or fail, Archie knew, and whatever happened next, he'd just have to deal with it. He'd had plenty of practice with that lately. 

"Come home with me." 

He hadn't expected that. 

He turned to look at Archie, not expecting the offer. Archie didn't look pitying, like he'd half expected. Just earnestly determined. "Stay with me, Jug. There's room, and you can stay as long as you like." 

"I'm fine." 

"You're not fine, Jug!" The shout echoed loudly in the small space. Archie's voice softened in response. "You're sleeping under the stairs. At school." 

He didn't respond. Didn't know how to. It's not like Archie was wrong. 

"Is this about my dad?" Archie asked. It wasn't, but Archie wouldn't understand that. "He wouldn't mind. He'd want you there more than to keep sleeping here." 

That was true. Mr Andrews was a nice guy, he wouldn't want a kid to be sleeping in a school. Even a Serpent's kid from the wrong side of the tracks. 

"Please, Jug." Archie reached out. He stepped back, out of reach, and felt vaguely guilty as Archie's face fell. Wasn't that just the perfect metaphor. 

Archie didn't reach out again, just left his hand hanging by his side. "I know we haven't been friends, really, this summer, and I know it's my fault. But you can't live like this, Jug." 

He shouldn't give in. He didn't want to give in. Too many things could go wrong, their friendship might not handle that kind of strain, Archie could go back to ignoring him. He'd already lost his home. He didn't think he could stand losing the Andrews' home too. 

But Archie Andrews was looking at him, properly looking, for the first time since the road trip that wasn't, and maybe this risk was a risk worth taking.


End file.
